Size, age, contract factored in trade of Korey Banks to the Blue Bombers

Korey Banks of the B.C. Lions leads the stretching drills for his Canadian Football League team. The B.C. Lions have traded veteran cornerback Banks to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for Canadian receiver Kito Poblah.

Photograph by: Mark van Manen
, PNG Files

Thanks to fleet, powerful running backs such as Calgary’s Jon Cornish and Saskatchewan’s Kory Sheets, Wally Buono sensed a shift in the Canadian Football League landscape last season.

Both players took the West Division by storm in 2013, and the GM of the B.C. Lions doesn’t see pounding the football along the ground more as simply another passing fad.

To avoid being left behind, the Lions must adapt quickly.

At least, that was Buono’s explanation for trading veteran defensive back Korey Banks Friday to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for non-import receiver Kito Poblah.

Banks played last season as a nickelback, a position requiring him to be a hybrid defensive back/linebacker who picks up running backs coming out of the backfield. Buono doesn’t believe that Banks’ smaller body type is compatible with the rebirth of the ground game in the CFL.

The fact that Banks was not prepared to play in B.C. this season without a contract extension, and the knowledge that his 35th birthday is six months away, were lesser considerations, Buono would have people believe.

"The game is changing again,” the GM explained. “You’ve got to be able to blitz, be more physical, take on the run. We’re changing. A guy that’s 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds is a lot different than a guy that’s 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds. Winnipeg’s going to be in our division this season. And one thing that Winnipeg could do is run the football. I can guarantee you that Edmonton is going to focus on running the football better, too.”

The Lions’ media guide lists Banks at five-foot-11, 190 pounds. Buono suggested he was closer to five-foot-10, 175. Whatever the true measure, Banks is now receding in the distance as he moves on to Winnipeg.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Banks insisted, pointing out Buono’s MO of trading or releasing big-name veteran players before or close to their expiry date. “It goes back further than Geroy Simon, Jason Clermont or Dave Dickenson. It goes back to Allen Pitts and Terry Vaughn (two players Buono had in Calgary). It’s part of the business. I don’t see the future, but I can feel things. I felt it was coming to this point years ago. I never whine. I can deal with it. I’m excited to be playing in Winnipeg. It’ll be a new beginning, with new teammates and it doesn’t take long for them to become your brothers.”

The five-time CFL all-star went very public about wanting an extension, another one-plus-one deal as had always been the case in previous negotiations with Buono.

The Lions GM was not prepared to go there, however. With Banks unable to accept the terms laid out, Buono traded him, a preferable option for the Lions to releasing the player outright.

In Poblah, the Lions get a three-year, oft-injured veteran who has failed to deliver on the hype surrounding him after he became the first pick in the 2011 supplemental draft. The Bombers forfeited a first-round pick in the 2012 draft to get the Montreal native, who played his college football at Central Michigan.

Poblah, however, is just 26 and he has the physical tools for the Lions to believe he has some upside left. It begins with his six-foot-two, 210-pound frame and the fact the Lions’ organization was very high on him three years ago.

Tim Burke, the fired Blue Bombers’ head coach, often made disparaging remarks about Poblah, hinting that he wasn’t tough enough and suggesting that the player operated on his own schedule.

Buono, however, knows that Poblah played for a losing organization riddled with question marks, in particular at the quarterback position. Who’s to say he can’t realize his potential with a group that considers an 11-7 record a disappointing, mediocre season.

“Sometimes the negative is not you, it’s who’s looking at you,” Buono said. “Now when you go somewhere where it’s fresh, the player comes in with a different attitude. And attitude is so much a part of success or failure. Why does a player who struggles in one situation thrive in another? Sometimes it’s just attitude -- and opportunity.”

Despite their contractual differences, Buono had nothing but fulsome praise for Banks, who was a prize catch by the Lions in 2006 from the Ottawa Renegades’ dispersal draft. He praised his “character and leadership” and quipped, “We are also losing a character.”

Banks was either a CFL or division all-star eight years in succession -- until last season.

“They used me a little different last year, and I didn’t make too many plays,” Banks admitted. “But they’re blocking me with four guys. I take that as a respect factor. I guess I’m still on everybody’s scouting report.”

Banks insisted he could play as long as Barron Miles or Eddie Davis, two great CFL defensive backs probably headed to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Miles was 38 when he packed it in; Davis was 37.

“I have as much football left as a guy who’s 27,” Banks insisted. “I’ve had no injuries, and they take years off your career. I don’t want to come off wrong here, but it’s a luxury to have a guy like me. I can play any position in the back end. I can cover, tackle and make plays. I have no problem, wherever they want to fit me in. I want to be part of turning things around in Manitoba (the Blue Bombers finished 3-15 last season).”

With the loquacious Banks on board, things definitely are on the upswing for the Blue Bombers’ quote takers.

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Korey Banks of the B.C. Lions leads the stretching drills for his Canadian Football League team. The B.C. Lions have traded veteran cornerback Banks to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for Canadian receiver Kito Poblah.

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